Brad Philpot - Cambridge University Press
Brad Philpot - Cambridge University Press
Brad Philpot - Cambridge University Press
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English<br />
Language<br />
and Literature<br />
for the IB Diploma<br />
<strong>Brad</strong><br />
<strong>Philpot</strong>
Contents<br />
Introduction i<br />
Part 1 – Language in cultural context 1<br />
Chapter 1 The English language 1<br />
Unit 1.1 English as a global language 2<br />
Unit 1.2 Varieties of English 8<br />
Assessment: Part 1 written task 1 21<br />
Assessment: Part 1 further oral activity 28<br />
Chapter 2 Close reading 35<br />
Unit 2.1 Audience and purpose 36<br />
Unit 2.2 Content and theme 39<br />
Unit 2.3 Tone and mood 43<br />
Unit 2.4 Stylistic devices 47<br />
Unit 2.5 Structure 51<br />
Assessment: Paper 1 56<br />
Part 2 – Language and mass communication 68<br />
Chapter 3 The media 68<br />
Unit 3.1 Journalism 69<br />
Unit 3.2 The Internet 78<br />
Assessment: Part 2 written task 1 81<br />
Chapter 4 The language of persuasion 89<br />
Unit 4.1 Propaganda 90<br />
Unit 4.2 Rhetoric 94<br />
Unit 4.3 Advertising 98<br />
Assessment: Part 2 further oral activity 108<br />
Sample<br />
Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts 118<br />
Chapter 5 The context of interpretation 118<br />
Unit 5.1 Approaching fiction 119<br />
Unit 5.2 Traditions of literary criticism 126<br />
Assessment: Part 3 or 4 written task 1 130<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition 137<br />
Unit 6.1 Types of novel 138<br />
Unit 6.2 Literary movements 143<br />
Assessment: Paper 2 148<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
Contents<br />
Part 4 – Literature: a critical study 160<br />
Chapter 7 The mechanics of fiction 160<br />
Unit 7.1 Engaging the reader 160<br />
Unit 7.2 Plot, character and setting 162<br />
Unit 7.3 Conflict and theme 171<br />
Unit 7.4 Narrative voice 176<br />
Unit 7.5 Revision 186<br />
Assessment: Written task 2 (HL only) 188<br />
Chapter 8 What makes English poetic? 195<br />
Unit 8.1 Sound and structure 196<br />
Unit 8.2 Imagery and figurative language 204<br />
Assessment: The individual oral commentary (SL) 211<br />
Glossary 223<br />
Acknowledgements 00<br />
Index 00<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
3 Literature:<br />
texts<br />
and contexts<br />
Chapter 6 The context of<br />
composition<br />
Objectives<br />
By the end of this chapter you will be able to<br />
identify and discuss the characteristics of various types of novels<br />
appreciate the importance of literary movements in shaping the contexts<br />
in which texts are written<br />
plan and write a timed essay for your Paper 2 exam.<br />
In the last chapter you looked at various different approaches to literature and<br />
traditions of literary criticism. You saw that there are different contexts in which texts<br />
can be interpreted. In this chapter you are going to turn your attention to the different<br />
contexts of composition and explore more about the context in which some sample<br />
texts were composed. You will look at different types of novel first, in Unit 6.1, then at<br />
literary movements in Unit 6.2. At the end of the chapter you will find a sample Paper 2<br />
to study and will be able to see how the knowledge you gain in this chapter can be put<br />
into practice in your IB exam.<br />
Reading novels, watching plays or viewing films often prompts the question What<br />
was the writer thinking when writing this text? This question is at the heart of the context<br />
of composition. It can be broken down into two subsidiary questions:<br />
1 Which literary forms inspired the writer to shape the text in this particular way?<br />
2 What experiences, topics or ideas inspired the writer to write?<br />
The first question is one of genre. Prose, poetry and drama are easily identifiable<br />
categories, or genres, of literature. However, it should always be remembered that not<br />
every work of fiction will fit neatly into a literary category or subcategory. There is no<br />
reader’s handbook to help identify literary genres, unlike the handbooks that exist<br />
to help identify species of birds or flowers, for example. In Unit 6.1 you will discover<br />
several different types, or genres, of novel and the qualities that define each of them.<br />
Learning to identify the characteristics of different kinds of novel will help put your<br />
Part 3 texts into perspective.<br />
The second question relates to the literary, social, political or historical movements<br />
that have influenced the writer, which you will pursue further in Unit 6.2. Writers do<br />
not write in a vacuum. They are influenced by their surroundings and the trends of their<br />
times. The German word zeitgeist has been adopted in English to capture all of these<br />
factors and describe ‘the spirit of the times’.<br />
For centuries, great writers have ‘stood on the shoulders’ of other writers who have<br />
gone before them. In other words, good writers build on traditions that others have<br />
started. Studying writers’ texts in the context of different literary genres and movements<br />
will help you understand how they have built on traditions. It will also show you how<br />
their writing style and form have been influenced by this context.<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011<br />
Key<br />
terms<br />
Genre describes a category of<br />
literature that can be defi ned by the<br />
structural and stylistic conventions<br />
that are frequently found in that<br />
category.<br />
Movement, in a literary sense, is a<br />
collection of works which seek to<br />
address similar concerns or express<br />
similar ideas, or which come out of<br />
a certain period in history.<br />
137
Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts<br />
138<br />
Unit 6.1 Types of novel<br />
Most bookshops these days have prominent displays of fiction best-sellers, and the<br />
most popular best-sellers are usually novels. Novels have become part of the fabric of<br />
our literary culture. What exactly are they, and why do authors choose to write a certain<br />
type of novel in order to express their ideas?<br />
Longer pieces of narrative writing have been around for nearly two thousand years.<br />
The art has evolved over time, from Ancient Greek sagas, Old French romances and<br />
medieval Italian tales. In 1719 Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, which tells the story of<br />
a man who learns to survive when he finds himself alone on an island in the Caribbean.<br />
Today, survival is still a popular theme in novels and has been treated in many best-sellers.<br />
In Defoe’s time, however, describing the trials and tribulations of one character, and<br />
allowing readers to hear his thoughts and see his actions, were revolutionary ideas.<br />
Novels are usually defined by several key characteristics, such as plot, setting and<br />
characterisation, which you will look at more closely in Chapter 7. For now the focus<br />
will be on some of the main types of novel and the labels that are often attached to<br />
them – for example, detective novels, social novels or science fiction novels.<br />
First, let us consider the term science fiction. In the last chapter you read an extract<br />
from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (Text 5.5), which in 1987 won the Arthur<br />
C. Clarke Award, the UK’s most prestigious award for science fiction writing. Atwood<br />
was surprised: she thought science fiction was a type of novel that included ‘rockets and<br />
chemicals’ or ’talking squids in outer space’, as she told the New Scientist and the BBC.<br />
She explained that The Handmaid’s Tale was a work of ‘speculative fiction’, a type of<br />
novel she believed had the ability to explore themes that ‘realistic fiction’ could not.<br />
The question here is Why did she choose a particular genre, whether that genre is termed<br />
science fiction or speculative fiction, to express her ideas? For the answer, we have to look at<br />
the context of the novel. In the case of The Handmaid’s Tale, several important events took<br />
place in the early 1980s that shaped the zeitgeist of our world. The Islamic Revolution<br />
changed Iran into a totalitarian theocracy; prominent feminists in the USA began to align<br />
themselves with the religious right, a group of people who wanted more Christianity in<br />
the US government; Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan used religious rhetoric<br />
openly and proudly; televised Evangelism or ‘televangelism’ became popular in the USA;<br />
chemical warfare and the Cold War were looming threats for many people in the world.<br />
In the context of what was happening at the time, it makes sense that Atwood<br />
wanted to reflect these influences through science fiction or speculative fiction. What is<br />
more, after reading the novel, you can see that she is building on a tradition established<br />
by other writers, such as Mary Shelley, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, called<br />
dystopian literature (see page 127).<br />
Sample<br />
Dystopian literature<br />
The term Utopia was coined by Sir Thomas More in 1516 in his description of the<br />
perfect society. The Greek word utopia means ‘no place’, and it sounds like another<br />
Greek word, eutopia, meaning ‘good place’. Dystopian is the opposite of Utopian. The<br />
roots of dystopian literature can be found in Jonathan’s Swift’s novel, Gulliver’s Travels,<br />
of 1726, in which the character Lemuel Gulliver travels to many fictitious lands, seeing<br />
the good and bad qualities of various societies. As a genre, dystopian literature is<br />
concerned predominantly with the values of a society.<br />
What makes a novel a dystopian novel? Look out for the following characteristics:<br />
The main character is an oppressed individual.<br />
The main character suffers at the hands of an oppressive state, often a totalitarian state.<br />
A major theme of the novel might be justice, freedom or happiness.<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
The text has the purpose of warning its readers about certain trends in politics or<br />
society at the time it was written.<br />
As you read the following extracts, Text 6.1, look for the four characteristics of<br />
dystopian literature in the list. Text 6.1 is 3 extracts from the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray<br />
<strong>Brad</strong>bury, an author who is often associated with the genre of dystopian fiction.<br />
Text 6.1 Fahrenheit 451, Ray <strong>Brad</strong>bury, 1953<br />
This novel takes place in America at a time in the future. The main character, Guy Montag,<br />
is a ‘fireman’, which in this novel means a person who burns books. Fahrenheit 451 refers<br />
to the temperature at which paper and therefore books spontaneously combust. After<br />
Montag meets his neighbour, a young intellectual, he begins to question why the state<br />
employs him to burn books. He begins to secretly collect books and eventually stays away<br />
from work to read them. At this point, he is visited by the chief of the fire department,<br />
Captain Beatty, who is speaking in the extract below, sitting at Montag’s bedside.<br />
Extract 1<br />
‘When did it all start, you ask, this job of ours, how did it come about, where,<br />
when? Well, I’d say it really got started around about a thing called the Civil War.<br />
Even though our rule-book claims it was founded earlier. The fact is we didn’t get<br />
along well until photography came into its own. Then – motion pictures in the early<br />
twentieth century. Radio. Television. Things began to have mass.’<br />
Montag sat in bed, not moving.<br />
‘And because they had mass, they became simpler,’ said Beatty. ‘Once,<br />
books appealed to a few people, here, there, everywhere. They could afford to<br />
be different. The world was roomy. But then the world got full of eyes and elbows<br />
and mouths. Double, triple, quadruple population. Films and radios, magazines,<br />
books levelled down to a sort of paste pudding norm, do you follow me?’<br />
‘I think so.<br />
Extract 2<br />
Yes, but what about firemen, then?’ asked Montag.<br />
‘Ah.’ Beatty leaned forward in the faint mist of smoke from his pipe. ‘What<br />
more easily explained and natural? With school turning out more runners, jumpers,<br />
racers, thinkers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners,<br />
critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word “intellectual”, of course,<br />
became the swear word it deserved to be. You always dread the unfamiliar. Surely<br />
you remember the boy in your own school class who was exceptionally “bright”, did<br />
most of the reciting and answering while the others sat like so many leaden idols,<br />
hating him. And wasn’t it this bright boy you selected for beatings and tortures after<br />
hours? Of course it was. We must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal,<br />
as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every<br />
other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge<br />
themselves against. So! A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it.<br />
Extract 3<br />
‘You must understand that our civilization is so vast that we can’t have our minorities<br />
upset and stirred. Ask yourself, what do we want in this country, above all? People<br />
want to be happy, isn’t that right? Haven’t you heard it all your life? I want to be<br />
happy, people say. Well, aren’t they? … That’s all we live for, isn’t it? For pleasure,<br />
for titillation? And you must admit our culture provides plenty of these.’<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
1 What examples are there in<br />
Text 6.1 of the characteristics of<br />
dystopian literature?<br />
2 How convincing do you fi nd<br />
Beatty’s case for censorship?<br />
Explain your answer with<br />
examples from the text.<br />
3 How might the ideas of this<br />
novel refl ect the zeitgeist of the<br />
1950s?<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011<br />
tip<br />
discussion<br />
Several works of dystopian literature<br />
offer interesting insight into the<br />
topic of media that you explored<br />
in Part 2: Language and mass<br />
communication. You may want to<br />
explore more texts from this genre<br />
that relate to the media. Try, for<br />
example, Nineteen Eighty-Four by<br />
George Orwell, Vernon God Little by<br />
D.B.C. Pierre, or the screenplay The<br />
Truman Show by Andrew M. Niccol.<br />
139
Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts<br />
140<br />
discussion<br />
1 How well do you think the student<br />
has understood the novel? Where<br />
do you see evidence of good<br />
understanding? Is there evidence<br />
of poor understanding?<br />
2 How does the student make a<br />
connection between the context<br />
in which the novel was written<br />
and the themes and structure of<br />
the novel?<br />
Anti-novel is a novel that ignores<br />
all of the structural conventions<br />
of regular novels such as plot,<br />
characterisation and consistent<br />
point of view.<br />
Key<br />
terms<br />
Bildungsroman belongs to a<br />
tradition of novel writing about<br />
young individuals coming of age<br />
who learn a lifelong lesson through<br />
a transformational experience;<br />
the German word Bildung means<br />
‘development’ or ‘formation’, and<br />
roman means ‘novel’.<br />
Gothic fi ction is a mixture of horror<br />
and romance that came out of the<br />
Romantic movement of the 18th<br />
and 19th centuries.<br />
Magic realism is a style of fi ction<br />
with origins in South America. It<br />
creates a very realistic setting with a<br />
few highly unrealistic elements.<br />
Social novel is a type of novel that<br />
stresses the importance of real<br />
social and economic circumstances<br />
on fi ctional characters in an attempt<br />
to persuade the reader towards an<br />
ideological position.<br />
Fahrenheit 451: style and context<br />
To prepare for your Paper 2 exam, you need practice at writing about how the context<br />
of a work is reflected through its content, style and structure. Look at the following<br />
response written by a student after reading Fahrenheit 451.<br />
Ray <strong>Brad</strong>bury was devoted to writing fiction when he wrote Fahrenheit 451. This<br />
may explain why the main topic of the novel is the importance of literature and<br />
books in society. After the Second World War, the memory of Nazis burning Jewish<br />
books was etched into the minds of millions, including <strong>Brad</strong>bury. Besides being<br />
concerned about the rights of minorities in America, his greater issue was with the<br />
state of education and literacy. Visual mass media was on the rise in America in<br />
the 1950s. <strong>Brad</strong>bury feared that with more screens projecting sensational images,<br />
people would forget to read and not want to be bothered with intellectual ideas,<br />
engaging in self-censorship.<br />
The above-mentioned ideas can be seen in the passage from Fahrenheit 451.<br />
<strong>Brad</strong>bury creates a scene with a lot of dialogue between Captain Beatty, who<br />
voices the opinion of the state and the masses, and Guy Montag, who, like the<br />
reader, questions the reasoning behind the state’s ways. As we, the readers,<br />
eavesdrop, we hear the arguments for censorship.<br />
The novel is intriguing. It drops the reader in a strange setting and quickly<br />
explains how to navigate. Because the novel was originally written in instalments<br />
as a serial in both Galaxy and Playboy magazines, it had to be intriguing. It had to<br />
make the reader want to buy the next publication.<br />
So far in this unit you have come across several types of fiction: science fiction,<br />
speculative fiction and dystopian literature, and have looked at these terms in relation<br />
to two novels: The Handmaid’s Tale and Fahrenheit 451. Figure 6.1 shows how a Venn<br />
diagram can be used to show how the two novels, plus some others, can be identified<br />
with the genres and the relationship between then. The diagram allows for an overlap<br />
where some texts have characteristics of more than one genre.<br />
There are, of course, many more genres than the three you have looked at so far in<br />
this unit. The following is a list of some of the other types of novel.<br />
anti-novel<br />
Gothic novel<br />
romance<br />
Bildungsroman<br />
historical novel<br />
social novel<br />
crime / detective novel horror novel<br />
speculative novel<br />
documentary novel magic realism novel spy novel<br />
fantasy novel<br />
psychological novel thriller<br />
Sample<br />
Activity 6.1<br />
1 Construct a Venn diagram like Figure 6.1 (page 139 to show the genres the<br />
books you are reading as a class belong to. Although constructing a Venn<br />
diagram of your texts cannot be an exact science, this is a useful exercise to<br />
do as a class when you are discussing your Part 3 or 4 texts, or even works<br />
you have read outside class.<br />
2 Why do you think the authors chose these particular types of novel to<br />
express their ideas?<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
3 Choose some of the other genres in the list above and carry out some further<br />
research on these types of novel. Make more Venn diagrams using the genres<br />
you have found out about.<br />
Historical fiction<br />
Historical fiction brings history to life by placing us, the readers, in a specific historical<br />
time and place. We see and experience the ideas of the times through the characters in the<br />
novel, enduring the same hardships and living their lives vicariously. As with all fiction,<br />
we must suspend our disbelief and not question how true the events or the characters are<br />
although we are always conscious that they are inspired by true events and real people.<br />
You are going to explore one novel of historical fiction to understand why its<br />
author chose to write this type of novel, and you will see how style and structure are<br />
influenced by the context in which the author wrote.<br />
Text 6.2 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Alexander<br />
Solzhenitsyn, 1962<br />
While many in the West knew about the Soviet labour camps of the early 1950s, known<br />
as the gulags, it was not until One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published in<br />
1962 that the world really understood the hardships endured by so many prisoners in<br />
the USSR under Stalin. Solzhenitsyn was serving in the Red Army in 1945 when he was<br />
arrested for making derogatory remarks about Stalin in private letters to a friend. He<br />
was eventually imprisoned and sent to a labour camp close to Kazakhstan, where he<br />
experienced the cold, hunger and ill treatment described in his novella.<br />
When Stalin died in 1953, Solzhenitsyn was freed but exiled. In 1956 he was<br />
allowed to return to the USSR, where he taught in a secondary school. Solzhenitsyn<br />
submitted the manuscript of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1961 to the literary<br />
magazine Novy Mir, which had to seek approval from Krushchev and the government<br />
to publish the novella. As Stalin had by then fallen out of favour, the publication was<br />
approved. Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize in 1970 but was not able to receive it until<br />
1974, when he was deported from the USSR for being anti-Soviet.<br />
No sense in getting your boots wet in the morning. Even if Shukhov had dashed<br />
back to his hut he wouldn’t have found another pair to change into. During eight<br />
years’ imprisonment he had known various systems for allocating footwear: there’d<br />
been times when he’d gone through the winter without valenki 1 at all, or leather<br />
boots either, and had had to make shift with bast sandals or a sort of galoshes<br />
made of scraps of motor tyres – ‘Chetezes’ they called them, after the Cheliabinsk<br />
tractor works. Now the footwear situation seemed better; in October Shukhov had<br />
received (thanks to Pavlo, whom he trailed to the store) a pair of ordinary, hardwearing<br />
leather boots, big enough for a double thickness of foot-cloth. For a week<br />
he went about as though he’d been given a birthday present, kicking his new<br />
heels. Then in December the valenki arrived, and, oh, wasn’t life wonderful?<br />
But some devil in the book-keeper’s office had whispered in the commandant’s<br />
ear that valenki should be issued only to those who surrendered their boots. It was<br />
against the rules for a prisoner to possess two pairs of footwear at the same time.<br />
So Shukhov had to choose. Either he’d have to wear leather throughout the winter,<br />
or surrender the boots and wear valenki even in the thaw. He’d taken such good<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
The Plot<br />
Against<br />
America<br />
Etidorhpa<br />
Speculative<br />
fiction<br />
Science fiction<br />
2001: A Space<br />
Odyssey<br />
Fahrenheit<br />
451<br />
The<br />
Handmaid’s<br />
Tale<br />
Dystopian<br />
literature<br />
Animal<br />
Farm<br />
Figure 6.1 Venn diagrams can be useful<br />
when discussing genres and texts.<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011<br />
Figure 6.2 The Soviet writer Alexander<br />
Solzhenitsyn.<br />
141
Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts<br />
Free indirect speech is a kind<br />
of limited third-person narration<br />
that allows the reader to hear a<br />
character’s thoughts (see page 181).<br />
142<br />
Key<br />
term<br />
discussion<br />
1 How does the student’s<br />
response differ from your own?<br />
2 What evidence does the<br />
student’s response show of<br />
critical thinking and contextual<br />
understanding?<br />
care of his new boots, softening the leather with grease! Ah, nothing had been so<br />
hard to part with in all his eight years in camps as that pair of boots! They were<br />
tossed into a common heap. Not a hope of finding your own pair in the spring.<br />
1 valenki knee-length felt boots for winter wear<br />
Activity 6.2<br />
Before reading the sample response below, write your own response to Text 6.2, drawing<br />
connections between Solzhenitsyn’s life and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.<br />
Write about 300–500 words. Remember that your writing must answer the following<br />
question: How do the style and structure of the text reflect the context in which it was written?<br />
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich: style and context<br />
Look at the following response written by a student after reading One Day in the Life of<br />
Ivan Denisovich.<br />
Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich as a work of<br />
historical fiction and most notably not as a memoir or autobiography. He may have<br />
done this for several reasons.<br />
Under the circumstances, Solzhenitsyn was not certain how his personal history<br />
of the gulag would have been received. After being released from prison, he had every<br />
reason to fear imprisonment again for speaking out about the camps. Hiding behind<br />
fictional characters and speaking through the imaginary Ivan Denisovich Shukov was<br />
safer and therefore made sense from the author’s perspective.<br />
Besides this reason, though, there is an even greater reason why Solzhenitsyn<br />
wrote fiction instead of non-fiction. He wanted to be known as an artist, or<br />
novelist, instead of a former prisoner of the gulag. His writing style draws us into<br />
the mind of Shukov through the use of free indirect speech. We see examples of<br />
this when the narrator says, ‘Then in December the valenki arrived, and, oh, wasn’t<br />
life wonderful?’ We feel the elation of the main character for such simple small<br />
things in prison life. Solzhenitsyn goes one step further to make us feel empathy<br />
for Shukov by writing in the second person: Not a hope of finding your own pair in<br />
the spring. This feels like an extreme let-down from the kicking his new heels.<br />
Solzhenitsyn wrote a piece of historical fiction because it allowed him to bring<br />
the gulag to life. He describes everything, from shoes to disease, in such detail<br />
that we feel we are there, experiencing the hardships of this Soviet labour camp.<br />
Sample<br />
As you follow your IB Diploma course and prepare for the Paper 2 exam, you might<br />
find it useful to keep a record of the texts you read. You can use a table such as the one<br />
below to record in summary form what you have read. Not only is this a good exercise<br />
for analysing a text, it will also be a useful overview when you come to revise for your<br />
exam. (You may not be able to fill in the last row of the table just yet. You will be looking<br />
more at the mechanics of fiction and literary devices in Part 4 of this coursebook.<br />
Chapter 7 has more about point of view and narrative technique.)<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
Text 1<br />
(from PLA)<br />
Text 2<br />
(from PLT list)<br />
Title The Handmaid’s Tale One Day in the Life of<br />
Ivan Denisovich<br />
Author Margaret Atwood Alexander<br />
Solzhenitsyn<br />
Themes Women in society,<br />
religion, totalitarian<br />
states<br />
Genre Dystopian fi ction /<br />
speculative fi ction<br />
Defi ning<br />
characteristics<br />
of genre<br />
Context (political,<br />
social, cultural,<br />
religious)<br />
Stylistic and<br />
structural devices<br />
that refl ect context<br />
of composition<br />
Oppressed person,<br />
oppressive state,<br />
happiness and<br />
society<br />
USA, religious right<br />
and feminism, Iran,<br />
Cold War<br />
1st person, stream<br />
of consciousness,<br />
present tense<br />
Totalitarian state<br />
(Stalinism), dignity,<br />
individualism versus<br />
socialism<br />
Text 3<br />
(free choice)<br />
Vernon God Little<br />
D.B.C. Pierre<br />
Individual versus<br />
society, dignity,<br />
media and violence<br />
Historical / memoir Dystopian fi ction /<br />
Bildungsroman<br />
Infl uential period<br />
from someone’s life,<br />
wisdom with benefi t of<br />
hindsight<br />
Stalinism, personal<br />
experience in Siberian<br />
labour camp<br />
3rd person, free<br />
indirect speech,<br />
detailed description of<br />
physical labour<br />
Coming of age, lifeshaping<br />
decisions,<br />
journeys<br />
Columbine<br />
shootings, reality<br />
TV<br />
1st person, stream<br />
of consciousness,<br />
present tense<br />
Activity 6.3<br />
Find out more about the contexts of the texts that you are reading for Part 3. Use the<br />
following questions to help you.<br />
1 What inspired the author of the text you are reading?<br />
2 Learn more about the characteristics that define the genre to which your text<br />
belongs. Why do you think the author chose that particular genre to express<br />
their ideas?<br />
3 Comment on how any stylistic and structural devices reflect the context<br />
of composition.<br />
4 As a class, fill in a table similar to the one above to act as a record of the texts<br />
you are reading.<br />
Unit 6.2 Literary movements<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
Sample<br />
Many literary works are closely associated with a particular historical or artistic<br />
movement. Movements often transcend the boundaries of one art form, and<br />
characterstics of a movement can sometimes continue beyond the time period usually<br />
given as the beginning and end of the movement. Romanticism, for example, was<br />
a movement that took hold in Europe in the second half of the 18th century, rooted<br />
in the idea that emotions and nature were true sources of knowledge. It gave rise to<br />
an explosion of visual arts, philosophical essays, music and literature. The effects and<br />
influence of Romanticism continue to this day. Even after the movement had been<br />
succeeded by the Victorian period, realism and the Industrial Revolution, there were<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011<br />
TOK<br />
Romanticism was a philosophical<br />
and artistic movement that came<br />
about as a reaction to the neo-<br />
Classicism and Enlightenment of<br />
the 18th century and the beginnings<br />
of the Industrial Revolution. The<br />
main idea behind Romanticism was<br />
that emotions were a source of<br />
truth. Other sources of inspiration<br />
included nature, beauty and youth.<br />
1 Read Text 6.3, a poem by<br />
William Wordsworth, and<br />
comment on how it refl ects the<br />
ideas of Romanticism.<br />
2 Comment in particular on the<br />
notion that The child is father of<br />
the man. Can a child know more<br />
or be wiser than an adult? What<br />
do you think Wordsworth means<br />
when he says a child can be father<br />
of the man? Discuss the relevance<br />
of the TOK terms (a) intuition and<br />
(b) wisdom in your answer.<br />
143
Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts<br />
144<br />
EE<br />
Extended<br />
essay<br />
William Blake: laying the<br />
foundations of Romanticism.<br />
‘Middlemarch’: the epitome of<br />
realism in English literature.<br />
Understanding post-modernism<br />
through Paul Auster’s ‘New York<br />
Trilogy’.<br />
You may want to devote an extended<br />
essay to exploring a literary<br />
movement. Besides focusing on<br />
one or two of its key literary works<br />
in depth, you should have a broad<br />
understanding of many of the texts<br />
associated with this movement in<br />
order to comment on the contexts of<br />
composition and interpretation. You<br />
could structure your essay around<br />
questions such as To what extent did<br />
the authors of your works contribute<br />
to a particular movement? Were the<br />
ideas of the authors understood by<br />
the audiences of their times? Were<br />
they ahead of their times?<br />
Figure 6.3 In the 1984 film A Passage to<br />
India the Marabar Caves are an important<br />
but mysterious part of the story. The<br />
unsolved events in the Marabar Caves are<br />
what characterise the novel as a work of<br />
modernism.<br />
still writers who were inspired by romanticism and continued in its tradition. One such<br />
writer is the poet Robert Frost.<br />
Attempts at defining literary movements can, however, be as difficult as defining<br />
literary genres and types of novel. While some movements transcend art forms<br />
and time periods, others are very much confined to a particular art form or period.<br />
Some movements are sub-movements. We will explore one movement in this unit,<br />
modernism, and see how it inspired writers such as John Fowles and E.M. Forster.<br />
Text 6.3 My heart leaps up, William Wordsworth, 1807<br />
My heart leaps up when I behold<br />
A rainbow in the sky:<br />
So was it when my life began,<br />
So is it now I am a man,<br />
So be it when I shall grow old,<br />
Or let me die!<br />
The child is father of the man,<br />
And I could wish my days to be<br />
Bound each to each by natural piety.<br />
Modernism<br />
In 1924 a novel by E.M. Forster, A Passage to India, challenged readers to read novels<br />
differently. In the story several British colonists are taken on an expedition by local<br />
Indians into the mysterious Marabar Caves. A British woman is possibly assaulted by<br />
one of the local men but the reader never finds out the truth about what happened in<br />
the caves. Instead we see how the characters have to deal with the aftermath.<br />
This, in essence, is a modernist novel. Modernism had begun much earlier than<br />
1924, towards the end of the 19th century, when writers and intellectuals started<br />
reacting against the common ideas of the Victorian era. They believed that subjective<br />
experience was more valuable than objective reality. What really happened in the<br />
Marabar Caves in A Passage to India does not matter as much as the emotional<br />
consequences suffered by the characters of the novel.<br />
Another characteristic of modernism is the rejection of the notions of natural<br />
order and authority. Hence, in A Passage to India, the attempts at persecuting the<br />
alleged perpetrator of the crime seem unjust and baseless. The two authorities of<br />
religion and the Raj (the British colonial rule in India) are questioned in the novel.<br />
Modernism especially took root after the atrocities of the First World War, which<br />
seemed senseless to so many. The world seemed to lack guiding principles and<br />
moral order.<br />
Finally, modernism questions form. E.M. Forster challenges the readers of the novel<br />
by not allowing them to know as much as some of the book’s characters. Not solving<br />
the mystery of the Marabar Caves breaks a widely accepted convention of storytelling.<br />
By drawing our attention to the novel’s form, Forster is a modernist.<br />
In summary, a modernist work can be identified by the following three<br />
characteristics:<br />
Subjective experience matters more than objective reality.<br />
The world lacks moral order or natural authorities.<br />
Form and convention are there to be broken.<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
Text 6.4 The Collector, John Fowles, 1963<br />
John Fowles was the son of a veteran of the First World War. He was gifted in<br />
languages and athletics, which became apparent while he was at Bedford School<br />
during the years of the Second World War. He completed his navy officer training<br />
on Victory in Europe Day in 1945. In 1947, after two years of military service, he<br />
went to Oxford <strong>University</strong> to study French. In 1947 he wrote: I … began to hate<br />
what I was becoming in life – a British Establishment young hopeful. I decided instead to<br />
become a sort of anarchist. He was interested in Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and<br />
the ideas of existentialism. After leaving university he taught in Greece but he<br />
quarrelled with the school. He returned to England, got married and was teaching<br />
English as a foreign language when he wrote The Collector. The story is about a<br />
young man, Frederick Clegg, who kidnaps a young girl, Miranda Grey. The story<br />
is told twice, from the perspective of each of the characters. The extract below<br />
contains the very last lines of the novel. They are told by Frederick after Miranda<br />
has died of pneumonia.<br />
The days passed, it is now three weeks since all that.<br />
Of course I shall never have a guest again, although now Aunt Annie and<br />
Mabel have decided to stay Down Under, it would not be difficult.<br />
Still as a matter of interest I have since been looking into the problems there<br />
would be with the girl in Woolworths. She lives in a village the other side of Lewes<br />
from here, in a house a quarter mile or so from the bus-stop. You have to go<br />
along a country-lane to get to it. As I say, it would be possible (if I hadn’t learnt my<br />
lesson). She isn’t as pretty as Miranda, of course, in fact she’s only an ordinary<br />
common shop-girl, but that was my mistake before, aiming too high, I ought to<br />
have seen that I could never get what I wanted from someone like Miranda, with<br />
all her la-di-da ideas and clever tricks. I ought to have got someone who would<br />
respect me more. Someone ordinary I could teach.<br />
She is in the box I made, under the appletrees. It took me three days to dig<br />
the hole. I thought I would go mad the night I did it (went down and got her in the<br />
box I made and outside). I don’t think many could have done it. I did it scientific.<br />
I planned what had to be done and ignored my natural feelings. I couldn’t stand<br />
the idea of having to look at her again, I once heard they go green and purple in<br />
patches, so I went in with a cheap blanket I bought in front of me and held it out<br />
till I was by the bed and then threw it over the deceased. I rolled it up and all the<br />
bedclothes into the box and soon had the lid screwed on. I got round the smell<br />
with fumigator and the fan.<br />
The room’s cleaned out now and good as new.<br />
I shall put what she wrote and her hair up in the loft in the deed-box which<br />
will not be opened till my death, so I don’t expect for forty or fifty years. I have<br />
not made up my mind about Marian (another M! I heard the supervisor call her<br />
name), this time it won’t be love, it would just be for the interest of the thing and<br />
to compare them and also the other thing, which as I say I would like to go into<br />
in more detail and I could teach her how. And the clothes would fit. Of course<br />
I would make it clear from the start who’s boss and what I expect.<br />
But it is still just an idea. I only put the stove down there today because the<br />
room needs drying out anyway.<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
Key<br />
term<br />
Existentialism is the philosophy<br />
that individuals are responsible for<br />
defi ning their own existence and<br />
giving their life meaning. Existential<br />
literary works often include troubled<br />
protagonists who question the<br />
meaning of life.<br />
Figure 6.4 John Fowles (1926–2005). He<br />
once wrote, I ... began to hate what I was<br />
becoming in life … I decided instead to<br />
become a sort of anarchist.<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011<br />
discussion<br />
1 Find evidence of the three<br />
characteristics of modernism in<br />
Text 6.4.<br />
2 How does the narrator draw you<br />
into his world?<br />
3 What kind of person is the<br />
narrator? Give examples to<br />
illustrate your ideas.<br />
4 How does Text 6.4 refl ect John<br />
Fowles’s interest in modernism<br />
and anarchy?<br />
145
Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts<br />
Figure 6.5 Albert Camus (1913–60), a<br />
source of inspiration for John Fowles.<br />
146<br />
There are, of course, many literary movements, and not just that of modernism that<br />
you have looked at so far in this unit. The following is a list of some other literary<br />
movements.<br />
beat poetry<br />
Dadaism<br />
existentialism<br />
First World War poetry<br />
Harlem renaissance<br />
imagism<br />
lost generation writers<br />
metaphysical poetry<br />
modernism<br />
post-colonialism<br />
post-modernism<br />
realism<br />
Renaissance<br />
Romanticism<br />
surrealism<br />
Victorian literature<br />
Activity 6.4<br />
As you study the contexts in which your Part 3 texts were written, you will want<br />
to learn more about the sources that inspired the authors. Albert Camus, Jean-<br />
Paul Sartre, the ideas of existentialism and the Theatre of the Absurd inspired<br />
John Fowles. Read Text 6.5, an extract from The Stranger by Albert Camus, to see<br />
how Fowles might have been inspired. Find out about existentialism and the<br />
Theatre of the Absurd in order to gain a deeper understanding of both Texts 6.4<br />
and 6.5. Here are some questions to consider when comparing and contrasting<br />
the two texts:<br />
1 How are the personal lives of the authors different? How are they similar?<br />
Can you see how their lives are reflected through their writing?<br />
2 Both stories are told in the first person, or the ‘I’ form, from the perspective of<br />
the main characters (the murderers). How are Frederick Clegg and Meursault<br />
similar in their thoughts and actions? How are they different?<br />
3 Read the short summaries of the main ideas of existentialism and the<br />
Theatre of the Absurd. Can you find evidence of these ideas in the two texts?<br />
Existentialism<br />
A philosophy that focuses on the condition of the individual person: their<br />
thoughts, emotions, responsibilities and actions.<br />
Only an individual can give their life meaning.<br />
In order to give their life meaning, the individual must overcome existential<br />
obstacles such as fear, alienation, boredom and absurdity.<br />
Sample<br />
The Theatre of the Absurd<br />
A movement comprising plays written by playwrights who believed human<br />
existence has no meaning in a godless world.<br />
The mismatch between people’s urge to give their lives meaning and the<br />
meaninglessness of life often results in absurd situations.<br />
Text 6.5 The Stranger, Albert Camus, 1942<br />
Albert Camus came from a poor, pied noir family (of French origin) in Algeria. His<br />
father died in the First World War; his mother, of Spanish descent, was half deaf. Just<br />
years after joining the French Communist Party in 1935, Camus was kicked out for<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
making anarchist claims. He spoke out about the inequalities between the Algerians<br />
and French in Algeria, which was a French colony until 1962. In 1940, after he saw<br />
some Nazis murder a French communist politician, Gabriel Péri, Camus joined the<br />
underground Resistance movement. Like Solzhenitsyn, Camus was also a winner of the<br />
Nobel Prize in Literature (1957).<br />
Although Camus rejected the existentialist label, The Stranger is often seen as<br />
a work of existentialism. In it, the main character, Meursault, leads an ordinary life<br />
that begins to fall apart after his mother dies; he meets an old girlfriend and his<br />
neighbour beats an Algerian lover. Meursault becomes involved in his neighbour’s<br />
affairs and finds himself being tailed by angry Arabs. In an act of what seems like<br />
random violence he shoots and kills an Arab. The following extract begins after he is<br />
imprisoned for murder.<br />
The next day a lawyer came to see me at the prison. He was short and stout,<br />
quite young, with his hair carefully greased back. In spite of the heat (I was in<br />
my shirt-sleeves), he was wearing a dark suit, a wing collar and a peculiar tie<br />
with broad black and white stripes. He put the briefcase which he had under his<br />
arm down on my bed, introduced himself, and told me that he’d studied my file.<br />
My case was tricky, but he was confident of success provided I had faith in him.<br />
I thanked him and he said, ‘Let’s get straight on with it.’<br />
He sat down on the bed and explained that some investigations had been<br />
made into my private life. It had been discovered that my mother had died recently<br />
in a home. Enquiries had then been made in Marengo, and the magistrates had<br />
learned that I’d ‘displayed a lack of emotion on the day of mother’s funeral. ‘You<br />
will understand,’ my lawyer said, that I feel another embarrassed at having to ask<br />
you this. But it matters a great deal. And the prosecution will have a strong case<br />
if I can’t find anything to reply.’ He wanted me to help him. He asked me if I’d felt<br />
any that day. This question really surprised me and I thought how embarrassed I’d<br />
have been if I’d had to ask it.<br />
I replied though that I’d rather got out of the habit of analyzing myself and<br />
that I found it difficult to answer his question. I probably loved mother quite a lot,<br />
but that didn’t mean anything. To a certain extent all normal people sometimes<br />
wished their loved ones dead. Here the lawyer interrupted me, looking very<br />
flustered. He made me promise not to say that at the hearing, or in front of the<br />
examining magistrate. But I explained to him that by nature my physical needs<br />
often distorted my feelings. On the day of mother’s funeral I was very tired and<br />
sleepy. So I wasn’t fully aware of what was going on. The only thing I could say for<br />
certain was that I’d rather mother hadn’t died. But my lawyer didn’t seem pleased.<br />
He said, ‘That’s not enough.’<br />
He thought for a moment. Then he asked me if he could say that I’d controlled<br />
my natural feelings that day. I said, ‘No, because it’s not true.’ He looked at me in<br />
a peculiar way, as if he found me slightly disgusting. He told me almost spitefully<br />
that whatever happened the warden and staff of the home would be called as<br />
witnesses and that this ‘could make things any unpleasant for me’. I pointed out<br />
to him that none of this had anything to do with my case, but he merely replied<br />
that obviously never had anything to do with the law.<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
Figure 6.6 How does this image from<br />
Luchino Visconti’s film of The Stranger<br />
(Lo Straniero) depict the narrator,<br />
Meursault, from Text 6.5?<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011<br />
147
Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts<br />
At higher level you are expected to<br />
have an even greater understanding<br />
of the contexts in which literary<br />
works are written. The following<br />
activity provides useful research<br />
into literary movements. You could<br />
divide the research work among<br />
all the higher level students in the<br />
class. You may also only want to<br />
focus on the literary movements that<br />
are relevant for your Part 3 works.<br />
Discuss the question of to what<br />
degree the movements of your<br />
Part 3 works are defi ned by (a) form,<br />
(b) philosophy and (c) time period.<br />
An example answer may be:<br />
‘Poetry of the First World War is not<br />
necessarily defi ned by a particular<br />
philosophy, as there were poets<br />
both for and against the war.<br />
First World War poetry, however,<br />
is famous for its sonnets, a form<br />
explored by many poets both critical<br />
and supportive of the war. While<br />
war poetry is still written today, First<br />
World War poems are characteristic<br />
of their times, describing the horrors<br />
of trench warfare and the causes of<br />
these seemingly senseless deaths.’<br />
148<br />
HL<br />
Higher<br />
level<br />
You have seen how a literary text is shaped by the context of the writer – the context<br />
of composition. By now you will also have realised that research is the key to<br />
understanding the contexts in which the literary texts you are studying are written.<br />
Learning about a movement or a genre of novel writing will help shed light on the<br />
underlying ideas of a literary text. Research will help you read between the lines.<br />
As you read the Paper 2 sample responses below, you will notice that they demonstrate<br />
as much knowledge of the context of the literary texts as of the texts themselves.<br />
Activity 6.5<br />
To what movement or movements do your literary texts from Part 3 belong? Look<br />
back at the list of movements on page 144 to help you. How does a little research<br />
on a particular movement shed light on and give new meaning to the works you<br />
are reading?<br />
Assessment: Paper 2<br />
In Paper 2 you must demonstrate in an essay your understanding of the contexts in<br />
which your Part 3 texts were written. The Paper 2 essay is a timed exam, which means<br />
you will be assessed on your ability to perform under a time constraint. Before you<br />
begin practising for the exam, make sure you are familiar with its requirements and<br />
grading criteria (see page V). Study the standard level and higher level sample student<br />
responses on pages 147–49 and 151–54 to give you an idea of what you are expected<br />
to do.<br />
The sample exams in this unit, like the real exams, contain six questions from which<br />
the student has chosen one to answer on. It is a good idea to begin your preparation<br />
by writing an essay without any time pressure in answer to one of the sample exam<br />
questions, either in class or by yourself, and not under exam conditions. Try to focus on<br />
two main things:<br />
what you are going to write<br />
how you are going to write it.<br />
Then, when you feel confident about the content, or what you want to say, and<br />
the conventions of essay writing, or how you are going to say it, you can begin writing<br />
some timed essays on previously unseen questions.<br />
Sample<br />
Sample exam Paper 2 (SL/HL)<br />
Write an essay on ONE of the following questions. Base your essay on the texts that you have read<br />
for Part 3. You may refer to other literary texts, but they should not form the body of your essay.<br />
1 How can we explain the continued interest in a particular work in different<br />
contexts and at different times?<br />
2 What do you think of the assertion that the meaning of a text is fi xed and does<br />
not change over time?<br />
3 To what extent do male and female literary characters accurately refl ect the role<br />
of men and women in society?<br />
4 How can a literary text’s style and structure refl ect the context in which it was written?<br />
5 How can political pressure or censorship shape the way literary texts are both<br />
written and read?<br />
6 How do literary texts capture the spirit of the times and the values of a culture?<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
Sample student response (SL)<br />
1 How can we explain the continued interest in a particular work in different<br />
contexts and at different times?<br />
Some works are timeless. For example, Shakespeare’s plays have been read by<br />
students and performed for audiences for centuries. Even though audiences<br />
have changed as social values have changed, the plays have always been relevant.<br />
Why is this? In The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, and One Day in the Life<br />
of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, we can see two reasons why literary<br />
works have received continued interest in different contexts and at different times<br />
by looking at their timeless themes and their literary devices.<br />
The Handmaid’s Tale and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich similarly<br />
explore timeless themes, namely, the themes of oppression and dignity. The<br />
question at the heart of these novels is: ‘How can you keep your dignity under<br />
extreme circumstances?’ In the case of the character Offred, from The Handmaid’s<br />
Tale, she is reduced to a fertility machine in a dystopian theocracy. Ivan Denisovich,<br />
or ‘Shukov’ as he is called, is reduced to a manual labourer in a camp near<br />
Kazakhstan, where temperatures are minus 40 degrees Celsius. For Offred, her<br />
dignity means being loved and found beautiful. She steals butter to keep her skin<br />
moist. For Shukhov dignity means refusing to lick his bowl or wear his hat at the<br />
dining table, which other prisoners do because of the hunger and cold.<br />
Even though the Stalin labour camps and the Republic of Gilead are very<br />
remote for many readers, the novels are just as relevant today as when they were<br />
written. While Offred’s situation sounds so unrealistic, readers know that religious<br />
oppression is a real threat. Atwood wrote the novel in 1985, just years after Iran<br />
became a theocracy and made women cover themselves in public, like the women<br />
of Gilead. Today, war is fought against the Taliban, who impose strict rules on<br />
the way women dress and are educated. While the Soviet labour camps have been<br />
dismantled, the world has learned about places like Abu Ghraib. People will always<br />
fear oppression and will therefore always be intrigued by works like The Handmaid’s<br />
Tale and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.<br />
There is another reason why these works will remain timeless. They are cleverly<br />
crafted. Margaret Atwood makes use of a stream of consciousness style,<br />
retelling flashbacks in the present tense, which keeps the reader engaged. She<br />
drops the reader in a very strange world, where people wear uniforms and have<br />
designated roles in society. It is up to the reader to piece together the logic<br />
of this strange setting. In a very clever structural device Atwood presents an<br />
epilogue to explain how Offred’s narrative has come to us through the transcription<br />
of a dictaphone that Offred secretly kept. The transcription is presented as a<br />
historical document in a futuristic, still fundamentally religious society. Such<br />
devices show Atwood’s technical skill as a writer in a genre of dystopian and<br />
speculative fiction, a genre most suitable for the themes of her novel.<br />
Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote a historical novel in the third-person limited<br />
perspective, a style and structure that reflected the context that he was writing in.<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011<br />
Key<br />
term<br />
Stream of consciousness is a style<br />
of storytelling which puts the reader<br />
in the narrator’s mind, allowing<br />
the reader access to the narrator’s<br />
thoughts as they occur, randomly,<br />
fragmented and unorganised.<br />
149
Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts<br />
150<br />
If he had written a memoir in the first person, blatantly presenting his personal story<br />
as fact, he would have run the risk of being imprisoned again. Instead he told the story<br />
as fiction and he distanced himself from the main character by writing in the third<br />
person. Nevertheless, readers are drawn into the everyday experiences of Shukov in<br />
the labour camp through Solzhenitsyn’s use of free indirect speech. There are times<br />
when we read Shukov’s thoughts, which are not written with quotation marks. He can<br />
become very excited about warm boots, a proper spoon or a morsel of bread.<br />
All in all Solzhenitsyn and Atwood, like many great writers, have written<br />
timeless works by writing about timeless themes. Through their novels we see our<br />
fascination with themes of dignity and oppression. Furthermore, these authors<br />
have used stylistic devices and literary structures that suit the contexts of their<br />
works, be they speculative fiction or historical fiction. It is for these reasons that<br />
readers return to literary geniuses, like Shakespeare, again and again.<br />
Examiner’s comments<br />
Generally speaking the student’s work is well structured and relevant to the question.<br />
The following comments give a good indication of how an examiner would assess this<br />
sample student response.<br />
Criterion A: Knowledge and understanding – 3 out of 5<br />
The student puts his main ideas into the contexts of the reader and the writer, comparing<br />
the times in which they were written and the times in which they are read today. While<br />
the contexts of the composition are compared with the contexts of interpretation today,<br />
with parallels made between Iran and the Taliban, the gulag and Abu Ghraib, there is not<br />
much illustration of the effects of the works on readers then and now.<br />
Criterion B: Response to the question – 4 out of 5<br />
The student rewords the question a little to change the focus away from explaining<br />
the continued interest in a work to explaining what makes a work timeless. Nevertheless,<br />
the candidate understands the implications of the question. The argument that a work<br />
is timeless because of timeless themes is a basic but important one. Focusing on two<br />
common themes, oppression and dignity, is also relevant and insightful.<br />
Sample<br />
Criterion C: Understanding of the use and effects of stylistic<br />
features – 3 out of 5<br />
There is clear evidence of critical thinking when the student makes a link between<br />
Solzhenitsyn’s use of free indirect speech and his fear of imprisonment. When explaining<br />
the correlation between Atwood’s style, the use of dystopian fiction and the historical<br />
context, the student is not as clear. It would have been nice to have an explanation of<br />
dystopian and historical fiction, along with examples of illustrations from the work.<br />
Criterion D: Organisation and development– 5 out of 5<br />
This essay is well structured. The student makes good comparisons of the works within<br />
most paragraphs. Once a guiding question is asked, such as How can you keep your<br />
dignity under extreme circumstances?, the answer is related to both novels immediately.<br />
The student integrates examples into the essay, referring to careful details of the<br />
novels, such as the butter incident in The Handmaid’s Tale or how Shukov refuses to<br />
lick his bowl or wear his hat at dinner. The student makes use of linking words such as<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
nevertheless, while and even though, which act as signposts for the reader. The opening<br />
idea about continued interest in Shakespeare returns in the conclusion as well, which<br />
gives the piece a sense of coherence.<br />
Criterion E: Language – 4 out of 5<br />
The student uses a good register that is characteristic of academic essays. The<br />
introduction is a good example of this, where the student writes a long but clear thesis<br />
statement. The student uses a wide range of vocabulary. The sentence structures follow<br />
parallel patterns. For example, the student starts one sentence with While Offred’s<br />
situation may sound unrealistic and then another with While the Soviet labour camps have<br />
been dismantled. This creates a clear link between the ideas of these sentences. Well done.<br />
How to structure an essay<br />
In Chapter 2 you read about the PIE structural pattern that occurs throughout good<br />
paragraphs (see page 58). PIE stands for Points, Illustrations and Explanations. We will<br />
take this method one step further here and ask What kind of points belong in a literature<br />
essay, and where do we put them?<br />
A good essay is a well-structured essay. You may be bubbling with good ideas, but<br />
if they are not presented in a logical order for the reader, then they will be lost. The<br />
solution for this is a good outline. While you might think in a timed exam that there is<br />
no time to write an outline, writing one will actually save you time. If you simply write<br />
your ideas down as they come to you, you will find yourself backtracking, crossing lines<br />
out or squeezing lines in. Outlines help you think before you write.<br />
What should your outline look like? There is no single outline to fit all essays.<br />
There is, however, a particular way of organising an essay that is commonly<br />
accepted as standard. Often referred to as the ‘five-paragraph essay’, this sort of<br />
essay has an introduction, usually three body paragraphs (but sometimes more),<br />
and a conclusion. The student’s outline below is for the sample essay you read<br />
above, and the outline follows this five-paragraph structure. (Notice that the<br />
sample response has six paragraphs, not five, because of the four body paragraphs,<br />
not three).<br />
Here are several key building blocks of essays.<br />
Introduction<br />
Attention grabber Why are Shakespeare’s plays timeless?<br />
Factual information Study of The Handmaid’s Tale (HT) and One Day in the Life of<br />
Ivan Denisovich (ODLID)<br />
Thesis 2 reasons explain why works are timeless: 1 timeless themes, 2 good<br />
literary technique<br />
Body paragraph 1<br />
Point Timeless themes – oppression and dignity. She = fertility machine.<br />
He = hard worker.<br />
Illustration She steals butter, he doesn’t lick his bowl.<br />
Explanation Expression of beauty for her. Display of pride for him.<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
Sample<br />
Body paragraph 2<br />
Point Novels’ themes were relevant when written and relevant today.<br />
Illustration HT written 1985 during Islamic Revolution in Iran. Today – the Taliban.<br />
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ODLID about gulag in 1950s. Today – Abu Ghraib.<br />
Explanation People will always fear oppression.<br />
Body paragraph 3<br />
Point HT cleverly crafted and therefore timeless.<br />
Illustration Stream of consciousness and clever epilogue.<br />
Explanation Style and structure suitable for dystopian literature.<br />
Body paragraph 4<br />
Point ODLID cleverly crafted and therefore timeless.<br />
Illustration Not memoir: historical novel for a reason – risk of imprisonment.<br />
Explanation Free indirect speech puts author at safe distance from main character<br />
but draws reader in.<br />
Conclusion<br />
Summary Timeless themes – oppression and dignity. Style and structure suit genre.<br />
Put ideas into greater context and/or link to ideas from introduction Reasons<br />
why we always return to writers such as Shakespeare.<br />
Attention grabber<br />
Try to capture your reader’s attention immediately, by using a bold statement, a<br />
question, a quote or a brief anecdote in the first line of the introduction. (It is also<br />
important that you first write out the question that you are responding to at the top of<br />
the essay. This will help both you and the examiner.)<br />
Factual information<br />
In the opening paragraph state briefly what the essay will respond to. Just as in a letter<br />
to the editor you find the name of the article, the date of publication and author of<br />
the article the letter responds to, similarly in a literature essay you should give the title<br />
of the text or texts and author’s name. This can be done in passing, as in the sample<br />
student response.<br />
Thesis<br />
A thesis statement captures the main idea and purpose of the essay. Half of the thesis<br />
is given to you in the Paper 2 exam question. The other half will be your answer to<br />
the question. Thesis statements are clear, succinct and persuasive. The sample student<br />
response suggests two reasons why literary works have received continued interest:<br />
timeless themes and strong literary devices. This thesis already provides a structure for<br />
the rest of the essay. Furthermore, notice how the sample student response mentions<br />
the titles of the works, the author’s names and the thesis in one fluid statement. There<br />
is no weak or over-obvious wording such as In this essay I will … or My essay is about<br />
question number … Avoid the word I and make a strong statement.<br />
Sample<br />
Topic sentence (point)<br />
Body paragraphs start with a topic sentence in which the first point is made. A topic<br />
sentence refers to one of the main ideas of the thesis statement. For this reason it is<br />
effective if the thesis statement consists of two or three components. The topic sentence<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
serves as the guiding idea for a paragraph. Within the paragraph, there should be<br />
illustrations and explanations of the point that the topic sentence makes. Notice that<br />
the sample student response refers to the timeless themes idea of the thesis statement in<br />
the first topic sentence of the first body paragraph. This acts as a structural signpost for<br />
the reader.<br />
Conclusion<br />
The conclusion is often the most difficult bit to write because you need to keep the<br />
reader’s interest without introducing any new ideas. Make a note of the following tips<br />
for concluding your essay:<br />
Try linking the conclusion to earlier ideas from the introduction. Notice how the<br />
sample student response starts with the Shakespeare question and answers it in the<br />
last line of the conclusion.<br />
Signposts are important for the examiner. Phrases like To conclude, In summary or All<br />
in all work well. If your sentences already sound conclusive and summative, you can<br />
skip them.<br />
Although you will need to summarise the main ideas, avoid simply repeating the<br />
points you have already made. For this reason it is important to use synonyms. The<br />
sample student response has the word intrigued in the body of the essay but the word<br />
fascination in the conclusion.<br />
Put your points into a wider context. The sample student response does this through<br />
the Shakespeare example.<br />
Do not apologise or sound weak. Avoid statements such as We have examined only one<br />
of many positions on this subject.<br />
Activity 6.6<br />
Read the HL sample student response on pages 152–153. Then using the<br />
five-paragraphy essay structure, write the outline you think the student could have<br />
made before writing the essay.<br />
Sample exam Paper 2 (SL/HL)<br />
Write an essay on ONE of the following questions. Base your essay on the texts that you<br />
have read for Part 3. You may refer to other literary texts, but they should not form the body<br />
of your essay.<br />
1 How do different forms of publishing affect the way literary texts are written<br />
and received?<br />
2 How are changing family values refl ected in literary texts?<br />
3 How have certain philosophical movements infl uenced writers of literary texts?<br />
4 How has one of the universal themes, for example love, murder, ambition or<br />
jealousy, been treated similarly or differently by writers in different cultures and<br />
in different times?<br />
5 How have dominant and minority social groups been portrayed similarly and<br />
differently in literary texts through the ages?<br />
6 How have literary texts been used over time as a form of social protest?<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
Sample<br />
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154<br />
Sample student response (HL)<br />
4 How has one of the universal themes, for example love, murder, ambition or<br />
jealousy, been treated similarly or differently by writers in different cultures<br />
and in different times?<br />
One of the universal themes that we see in many literary works is murder. Three<br />
authors, William Shakespeare, Albert Camus and John Fowles, have treated this<br />
theme of murder both similarly and differently. By exploring Macbeth, The Stranger<br />
and The Collector we will see how each author used murder to comment on the<br />
meaning of life, how their ideas were influenced by their contexts, and how they<br />
used language to express these ideas.<br />
While the storylines of all three works are different, they have one thing in common:<br />
someone dies. Since readers usually look for meaning behind such catastrophic events,<br />
we can assume that the characters of these works die for a reason. Why do the<br />
characters in these works die and what are we supposed to learn from their deaths?<br />
Macbeth kills Duncan, the King of Scotland, because he wants to become king himself,<br />
but his guilt comes back to haunt him and he is eventually killed too. There is an obvious<br />
moral lesson that ambition is dangerous and murder is not a shortcut to the top. The<br />
moral lesson is less obvious in The Collector, where Miranda, a posh, young, pacifistic<br />
girl, is abducted by an autistic, young madman, Frederick Clegg. She needlessly dies of<br />
pneumonia in his cellar. Nevertheless, there is a moral message that one can and should<br />
use violence to preserve one’s life. The Stranger, however, offers a nearly impossible<br />
message to comprehend. When Meursault is asked in court why he killed an Arab on the<br />
beach, his only answer is ‘because of the sun’. It is as if Camus is trying to say people<br />
are murdered for no reason at all. In this sense Camus is different from Shakespeare or<br />
Fowles, by telling us not to look for meaning behind the story of a murder.<br />
In each story, Macbeth, The Stranger and The Collector, murder is treated<br />
differently because each author was inspired by different contexts. Macbeth<br />
is based on the history of King James I, who had just come to the throne in<br />
1606 when Shakespeare presented his play. In reality, Banquo, who was James<br />
I’s ancestor, helped Macbeth kill Duncan to become king. It would have created a<br />
political scandal and cost Shakespeare his head if he had presented it this way.<br />
Shakespeare presented Banquo as the rightful and just leader of Scotland. This<br />
flattered King James. People at that time believed it was a religious sin to kill a<br />
king. Kings were chosen by the hand of God. Shakespeare’s moral lesson was not<br />
only ‘murder is wrong’, but ‘murdering your king is wrong’. In order to understand<br />
the contexts of The Stranger and The Collector, we must also discuss the notion<br />
of God and religion. In a religious world, murder is obviously wrong and life naturally<br />
has meaning. Both characters, Meursault and Frederick Clegg, do not believe in<br />
religion and their murders are meaningless. The fact that they do not feel regret or<br />
remorse makes the reader feel rather uncomfortable. Instead these works seem to<br />
say, ‘Murder happens. Accept it and move on.’ Both Camus and Fowles were inspired<br />
by the ideas of Sartre, existentialism and the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement<br />
that explores the mismatch between people’s attempts to create meaningful lives<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
and the fact that life lacks meaning. Fowles’s work is less absurd than Camus’s in<br />
that Miranda seems to die for a reason: she is a victim of her own pacifism.<br />
In the writing styles of all three authors, the focus is on portraying the<br />
thoughts of the murderer. In Macbeth, King Duncan is killed off-stage. We see<br />
Macbeth contemplating the murder, and he feels guilty about the murder. His<br />
speeches Is this a dagger which I see before me …? and Will all great Neptune’s<br />
ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand? are evidence of this. Just like<br />
Shakespeare, Camus and Fowles show us the thoughts of their perpetrators<br />
through first-person narration. In contrast, though, Meursault and Clegg are both<br />
surprisingly bland in how they describe their murders and indifferent about the<br />
aftermath of their murders. The language of both is simple and basic. Events are<br />
told to the reader as they unfold in a stream of consciousness and matter-offact<br />
tone. Only the immediate ‘here and now’ action seems to matter to the main<br />
character. This is a typical characteristic of existentialism.<br />
The mind of a madman is something that intrigues all of us. We have seen how<br />
three authors approach this universal theme of murder differently. For a large part<br />
their contexts and sources of inspiration account for how they portray this theme<br />
differently. Interestingly the first-person perspective lends itself best to this subject<br />
matter. It is ironic that readers look for the meaning of life in the death of others.<br />
Examiner’s comments<br />
The following comments give a good indication of how an examiner would assess this<br />
sample student response.<br />
Criterion A: Knowledge and understanding – 5 out of 5<br />
The student has done research on the contexts of the Part 3 texts, as is seen in the<br />
references to King James and existentialism. The explanation of how kings and religion<br />
were perceived in Shakespeare’s time is especially relevant. Similarly the student<br />
explains how Camus and Fowles were influenced by existentialism and the Theatre of<br />
the Absurd to different degrees. There is evidence of critical thinking, as the student<br />
sees similarities and differences between all three works with regards to theme.<br />
Criterion B: Response to the question – 3 out of 5<br />
The focus of the essay remains on the title question for the most part, but ignores the<br />
aspect of different cultures. Is there something typically French in the portrayal of<br />
Meursault, compared to Fowles’s portrayal of the British Clegg? While this is a difficult<br />
question to answer, it remains part of the exam question and is expected of the student.<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
tip<br />
You will notice from the criteria that,<br />
as far as content is concerned,<br />
your essay must have three areas<br />
of focus: your understanding of the<br />
works in light of the question, the<br />
importance of context, and your<br />
understanding of stylistic devices.<br />
While criteria D (organisation) and<br />
E (language) must be apparent<br />
throughout the essay, the fi rst<br />
three points can be tackled one by<br />
one in the essay. In fact, you will<br />
notice that both SL and HL sample<br />
responses are structured along the<br />
lines of the fi rst three criteria. First<br />
they discuss common themes in<br />
relation to the question (Criterion B).<br />
Then they explain the signifi cance<br />
of context (Criterion A). Finally<br />
they explore the effect of stylistic<br />
features (Criterion C). Following<br />
such a format will help keep your<br />
essay focused and effective.<br />
Sample<br />
Criterion C: Understanding of the use and effects of stylistic<br />
features – 3 out of 5<br />
The student identifies and compares the use of stylistic features very well. The tone<br />
of Meursault and Clegg is matter-of-fact, and the use of first-person, stream of<br />
consciousness narration is prevalent in the novels. However, what is the effect of these<br />
on the audience? Why did the authors choose these points of view for these stories<br />
about murder? These are questions that could receive more attention.<br />
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Criterion D: Organisation and development – 4 out of 5<br />
The essay follows a classic five-paragraph essay structure, with a thesis statement and<br />
topic sentences. The question Why do the characters in these works die and what are we<br />
supposed to learn from their deaths? is particularly effective. Such questions give paragraphs<br />
a lot of guidance and structure. Illustrations are integrated effectively as well, such as the<br />
quotations from Macbeth after a statement about the thoughts of the murderer. There<br />
could have been more examples like these for The Collector and The Stranger. The structure<br />
could have been a little more coherent with better use of linking words and clauses as well.<br />
Criterion E: Language – 4 out of 5<br />
The flow of the text is very good. While the essay is free of grammatical errors, the<br />
student could have taken risks with more difficult sentence structures. Many sentences<br />
are fragmented and choppy, needing to be connected to other ideas. With a few minor<br />
slip-ups, the register is for the most part academic and appropriate.<br />
Ten ways to invigorate your writing<br />
The higher level sample student response could have been written more effectively. While<br />
writing styles may vary from person to person, there are several characteristics of good<br />
writing that everyone should be aware of. Here are ten ways to invigorate your writing<br />
style. When used properly, they can change a score of 7 for Criterion C into a 10.<br />
1 Avoid One of … and The fact that …<br />
Sentences that begin with One of the … or The fact that … tend to be cumbersome for<br />
the reader. They are more characteristic of spoken language.<br />
Instead of<br />
One of the universal themes that we see in many literary works is murder.<br />
The fact that they do not feel regret or remorse makes the reader feel<br />
rather uncomfortable.<br />
use<br />
Sample<br />
Murder is a universal theme found in many literary works.<br />
Their lack of regret or remorse makes the reader feel uncomfortable.<br />
2 Avoid There is or It is<br />
The verb be can often be replaced by stronger, more descriptive verbs. Similarly<br />
the impersonal subjects there and it can usually be replaced by stronger, more<br />
meaningful subjects.<br />
Instead of<br />
There is an obvious moral lesson that ambition is dangerous.<br />
It is ironic that readers look for the meaning of life in the death of others.<br />
use<br />
The moral lesson here is that ambition is dangerous.<br />
Ironically, readers look for the meaning of life in the death of others.<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
3 Avoid obviously and naturally<br />
Nothing is obvious for the reader, so words such obviously or naturally are<br />
presumptuous. (Notice in the example above that the word obvious has been removed,<br />
making giving the statement more impact.)<br />
Instead of<br />
In a religious world, murder is obviously wrong and life naturally has meaning.<br />
use<br />
In a religious world, murder is wrong and life has meaning.<br />
4 Avoid passive verbs<br />
Avoid passive verb constructions. Active ones engage the reader more.<br />
Instead of<br />
In each story, Macbeth, The Stranger and The Collector, murder is<br />
treated differently.<br />
use<br />
Each story, Macbeth, The Stranger and The Collector, treats murder<br />
differently.<br />
5 Avoid vague language<br />
If you want to be persuasive in your essay, you will have to be clear. This is especially<br />
applicable to quantifiers, or words that indicate an amount.<br />
Instead of<br />
For a large part their contexts and sources of inspiration account for how<br />
they portray this theme differently.<br />
use<br />
Their contexts and sources of inspiration account for how they portray<br />
this theme differently.<br />
6 Use the -ing form<br />
Using subject–verb–object syntax can become very boring for the reader, when the<br />
subjects are always common countable nouns. Instead try creating noun phrases using<br />
gerunds (-ing forms).<br />
Instead of<br />
It would have created a political scandal and cost Shakespeare his head if<br />
he had presented the play this way.<br />
use<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
Sample<br />
Presenting the play this way would have created a political scandal and<br />
cost Shakespeare his head.<br />
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Part 3 – Literature: texts and contexts<br />
158<br />
7 Use effi cient noun phrases<br />
This tip is similar to Tip 2 above and is about avoiding clumsy sentences with too<br />
many words.<br />
Instead of<br />
Both Camus and Fowles were inspired by the ideas of Sartre,<br />
existentialism and the Theatre of the Absurd, a movement that explores<br />
the mismatch between people’s attempts to create meaningful lives and<br />
the fact that life lacks meaning.<br />
use<br />
Both Camus and Fowles were inspired by the ideas of Sartre,<br />
existentialism and the mismatch between people’s attempts to create<br />
meaningful lives and the meaninglessness of life.<br />
8 Use parallel structures<br />
Readers and listeners like parallel constructions because they contain patterns<br />
that can be easily understood. The sentence below can be rewritten with a<br />
repeated -ing form.<br />
Instead of<br />
We see Macbeth contemplating the murder, and he feels guilty about the<br />
murder.<br />
use<br />
We see Macbeth contemplating the murder and feeling guilty about it.<br />
9 Use varied sentence length<br />
Keep your reader interested by varying the lengths of your sentences. Offset long<br />
sentences with short ones, and look for choppy, fragmented sentences that can be<br />
strung together.<br />
Instead of<br />
The language of both is simple and basic. Events are told to the reader<br />
as they unfold in a stream of consciousness and matter-of-fact tone.<br />
Only the immediate ‘here and now’ actions seem to matter to the main<br />
character. This is a typical characteristic of existentialism.<br />
Sample<br />
use<br />
The reader learns of events as they unfold via a stream of consciousness,<br />
recounted simply and in a matter-of-fact tone, where only the immediate<br />
‘here and now’ seems to matter to the main character. This is typical of<br />
existentialism.<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011
10 Use linking words and clauses<br />
You must indicate the relationships between your ideas as you present them to your<br />
reader. Look again at the list of linking words on page 65. Besides using linking words,<br />
also make good use of relative clauses, which are clauses like this one that use words<br />
such as which and that to link ideas together and make longer sentences. If you have a<br />
sentence starting with This, you can probably join it on to the sentence before.<br />
Instead of<br />
Shakespeare presented Banquo as the rightful and just leader of<br />
Scotland. This flattered King James. People at that time believed it was a<br />
religious sin to kill a king. Kings were chosen by the hand of God.<br />
use<br />
Instead, Shakespeare presented Banquo as the rightful and just leader of<br />
Scotland, which flattered King James. Furthermore, people at that time<br />
believed it was a sin to kill a king, as kings were chosen by God.<br />
Chapter 6 summary<br />
The focus in this chapter has been the context of composition, on<br />
gaining a greater understanding of literature by placing ourselves in<br />
the mind of the writer and learning about literary traditions. You began<br />
by looking closely at some examples of dystopian and historical fi ction.<br />
You have also seen the importance of researching the contexts in which<br />
literary texts are written and examined the philosophical and artistic<br />
movements of modernism and existentialism in relation to an extract<br />
from a novel by John Fowles. Understanding the zeitgeist of a writer<br />
opens new windows on a literary text and allows you to read more<br />
deeply between the lines. Finally, as preparation for the Paper 2 exam,<br />
you have learnt about the fi ve-paragraph essay structure and worked<br />
through ten tips to improve your writing style.<br />
Chapter 6 brings to a close Part 3 of the coursebook. By now, you<br />
will be familiar with the contexts of interpretation and composition,<br />
and know how they can shape meaning in the literary texts you are<br />
studying. In the next chapter you will be fi nding out more about the<br />
mechanics of fi ction. Before deciding how effective a certain writing<br />
style is for the purpose of a text, it is necessary to know more about the<br />
writing devices writers have at their disposal and how well they have<br />
chosen them in their texts.<br />
Chapter 6 The context of composition<br />
tip<br />
You may have noticed that the list is<br />
divided into two sets: Tips 1–5 start<br />
with Avoid … and Tips 6–10 with<br />
Use … Think of them as the dos<br />
and don’ts of writing. In pairs, check<br />
each other’s essays in response<br />
to an exam question. Have you<br />
included all the dos and avoided<br />
all the don’ts? Make a checklist for<br />
reviewing each other’s work.<br />
You could also try working in groups<br />
of ten, with each student assigned<br />
one of the tips to watch out for.<br />
Pass your essays around and as a<br />
group screen them for all ten ways<br />
to invigorate your writing style.<br />
Sample<br />
© <strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>University</strong> <strong>Press</strong> 2011<br />
Further<br />
resources<br />
The Little, Brown Compact<br />
Handbook by Jane E. Aaron is an<br />
excellent, American guide on how to<br />
organise essays, invigorate writing<br />
style, use punctuation and cite<br />
sources. You will also fi nd it useful<br />
long after you have fi nished your IB<br />
Diploma course!<br />
159